“Are You an Empath?”

“Are You an Empath?”

“Are you an empath?” When someone first asked me this many years ago, I thought I understood the meaning of the question – being empathic means having the ability to understand, at a deep level, the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of others – but I thought that everyone was empathic, that being empathic is simply human nature.

However, the word “empath” indicates a person who is super-sensitive to other people’s energies, physical pain, and moods, to the point where it may be very uncomfortable to be in large crowds of people for even a brief period of time.

More and more people today self-identify as one. If you want to see whether you or your child are one, you can check out “30 Traits of an Empath” article, a lengthy exploration of what it means to be an empath.

As you are probably aware, many energy healers, psychologists, counselors, teachers, those who work with children, and those who work in many other service professions are empaths. They have chosen those professions because of the gifts that being an empath brings forth. Many, however, were not aware of the other side of this coin will be.

Let’s take for an example a Reiki practitioner who is so sensitive that can feel the pain of a client in their own bodies. While this on the one hand helps them to help the client — who goes home all happy, relaxed, and pain-free after their session — our Reiki practitioner from this example is left feeling exhausted and drained.

Or let’s say that you love teaching but have a hard time dealing with energy of many people at the same time, to the point where teaching is no longer joy it used to be. Or perhaps you are in a business where you interact with a lot of clients on a daily basis, and while you love what you do, the “how” of doing it makes you feel tired and overwhelmed.

If you recognize yourself in these descriptions, it may be time to consider how to change that, so that you can continue to do your work in the way that brings you joy.

You can adjust your energy (and how much you fell and when and how) in many different ways. What is great about working with crystals is that you can reduce the oversensitivity to outside stimuli and other people’s energies, while at the same time increase all the positive aspects of empathy. There are many resources that you can use or you can learn by experimentation as well. We can also work on this together!

In my Crystal Balancing Session we develop a strategy and a plan of action for you to use over a period of time and through the Crystals for Personal Healing workshop, you learn how to choose the best stones for yourself at any given time. The workshop will be held in Williamsburg, VA, on Saturday, April 9th, 9 am to 1 pm and you can read more about it by clicking at the link above.